The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) to treat patients with metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Nivolumab is a monoclonal antibody that that blocks the PD-1/PD-L1...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On September 30, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Frederic Amant, MD, PhD, of University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues in the International Network on Cancer, Infertility, and Pregnancy found that cancer diagnosed during pregnancy did not appear to affect cognitive, cardiac,...
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) researchers have received renewal of their head and neck cancer research through the National Cancer Institute’s competitive Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) program. The 5-year, $10.9 million grant includes a new project to study...
The CheckMate 025 trial, reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert J. Motzer, MD, and colleagues, showed that treatment with the programmed cell death protein (PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) increased overall survival vs the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) in...
A prospective validation study of a 21-gene expression assay showed that treatment with endocrine therapy alone in women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer who had a low recurrence risk score resulted in low risk of recurrence. All patients included in the study were...
As time lapses, many patients who have undergone a colonoscopy become less and less likely to recall when and where they last had the procedure performed, who the doctor was who performed it, whether polyps were found, and, if so, the number and size of those polyps, according to new study results...
The use of dietary supplements and other complementary and “alternative” therapies by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 20 years despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about complementary therapies can be...
We’ll provide the resources. You provide the voice. The Campaign to Conquer Cancer is raising $150 million to support a world free from the fear of cancer. Our potential to raise money increases with every new person who learns about our work. We need the most trusted leaders in the oncology...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (CCF) is fueling cancer research and pursuing dramatic advances in the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of all types of cancer. CCF’s Grants and Awards program supports clinical and translational cancer...
FOEDUS, the Italian Foundation of Culture and Science, awarded the Supreme Medal of Excellence to oncologist Philip A. Salem, MD, Director Emeritus of Cancer Research at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston and President of the Salem Oncology Center at the Texas Medical Center. The...
The emphasis at this year’s Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, held earlier this month in Boston, was on patient-centered care throughout the cancer continuum. The meeting attracted more than 650 attendees and included six general sessions featuring best practices in communication,...
Researchers have determined just how many lives are lost when effective investigational drugs are not approved in a timely manner. These delays in the process of anticancer drug approvals result in thousands of premature deaths each year, according to an analysis presented at the 16th World...
Data from an analysis of lung cancer screening programs in Italy add further evidence that smoking cessation reduces mortality. Heavy smokers screened by low-dose computed tomography (CT) who stopped smoking before or during the screening period had a three- to fivefold reduction in mortality...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening of women at average risk for breast cancer achieved a mean additional cancer yield of 15.8 cases per 1,000 women, greatly surpassing yields for supplemental digital breast tomosynthesis (1.25 per 1,000) or supplemental ultrasound (4.1 per 1,000). The...
Given that BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have an estimated 40% to 85% lifetime risk of breast cancer and an increased risk of developing contralateral breast cancer, risk reduction in this population remains essential. According to a study presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium, use of...
Enrique Grande, MD, Head of the Endocrine and Genitourinary Tumors Section of the Medical Oncology Service at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital, Madrid, discussed the NETTER-1 and RADIANT-4 studies at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress. “There is now a stronger rationale...
Patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors have two promising new treatment options, according to studies that earned spots in the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress, held recently in Vienna, Austria. The phase III studies evaluated the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor)...
In an accompanying editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael F. Greene, MD, Chief of Obstetrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dan L. Longo, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, mentioned the low odds for both oncologists and...
Children with in utero exposure to chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy during maternal treatment for cancer had no impairment in cognition, cardiac function, and general early childhood development, according to a study reported at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria, and published...
This is the first time we have seen data from the BIRCH trial in these three different cohorts using biomarker expression on tumor cells and immune cells,” said formal discussant Luis Paz-Ares, MD, Professor Medicine at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain. “BIRCH confirms the...
The anti–PD-L1 (programmed cell death-ligand 1) antibody atezolizumab (formerly known as MPDL3280A) achieved encouraging outcomes in patients with non–small lung cancer (NSCLC) in two different trials: POPLAR1 and BIRCH.2 PD-L1 has emerged as a predictive biomarker for atezolizumab response in both ...
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) nearly doubled progression-free survival compared with standard everolimus (Afinitor) therapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to the phase III METEOR trial.1 Additionally, a preplanned interim analysis found an encouraging trend toward overall...
Several studies have addressed the risks and benefits of ovarian suppression during chemotherapy for breast cancer in women of childbearing age. A new meta-analysis of randomized trials found that it prevented premature ovarian failure and was associated with a higher number of pregnancies post...
Patient: “Doc, how much are these drugs going to cost me?” Physician: “They are expensive, and you can see our financial counselor to help you understand the costs.” Cancer care is not a black-and-white endeavor, and costs are considered a distasteful subject to be passed over in tactful silence. ...
Patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with nivolumab (Opdivo) were 27% less likely to die than those receiving everolimus (Afinitor), in a planned interim analysis of the open-label phase III CheckMate 025 trial.1 These positive results prompted an early termination of the study by...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the biologics license application for talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic), a genetically modified oncolytic viral therapy indicated for the local treatment of unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous, and nodal lesions in patients with melanoma...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will recognize the late Aaron J. Marcus, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College and the Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System with the 2015 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology. Dr. Marcus, who passed away in May 2015,...
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly the Institute of Medicine, announced the election of 70 regular members and 10 international members during its Annual Meeting October 19. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and...
A lower-than-expected rate of cancer among elephants could be potentially related to multiple copies of TP53, “a crucial tumor suppressor gene mutated in the majority of human cancers,” according to a study published online by The Journal of the American Medical Association. “Compared with human...
A multivariable analysis of clinical factors associated with tamoxifen use among premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer showed that fertility preservation was a significant factor and “the only predictor of both noninitiation and early cessation” of tamoxifen. “Among...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Larissa A. Meyer, MD, MPH, and colleagues, ASCO has endorsed the recently published American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guideline on postoperative radiation therapy for endometrial cancer.1 The ASCO clinical practice guideline...
Although genetic testing has not turned up any inherited mutations that might explain the number of cancers that have plagued my immediate family, over the past 15 years, I have lost my father, aunt, and sister to the disease. In 2001, my husband, Wayne, died of acute promyelocytic leukemia, and...
The following essay by S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. It was...
A new analysis indicates that when American adults are diagnosed with cancer, they experience significant decreases in the probability of working, in the number of hours they work, and correspondingly, in their incomes. Such negative impacts of a cancer diagnosis are particularly pronounced among...
Question 1: What is next best step in the management of this patient? Correct Answer: C. Ophthalmoscopy/slit lamp examination. Expert Perspective Ophthalmic involvement should be sought by noninvasive procedures such as slit lamp examination and ophthalmoscopy and abnormal findings must be...
Bookmark Title: Pick Your Poison: How Our Mad Dash to Chemical Utopia Is Making Lab Rats of Us All Author: Monona Rossol Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Publication date: October 2015 Price: E-book, 210 pages Monona Rossol is a chemist and “industrial hygienist” who is a frequent contributor to...
Bookmark Title: AIDS Between Science and Politics Author: Peter Piot Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication date: May 2015 Price: $29.95; hardcover, 216 pages AIDS is a global phenomenon that recognizes neither national boundaries nor social strata. The AIDS pandemic was one of the...
We'll provide the resources. You provide the voice. The Campaign to Conquer Cancer is raising $150 million to support a world free from the fear of cancer. Our potential to raise money increases with every new person who learns about our work. We need the most trusted leaders in the oncology...
A new article published in the Journal of Oncology Practice evaluates differences between the treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell cancer who participated in clinical trials vs those who received the same therapy in routine clinical practice. Nearly 40% of patients in the real-world...
The LUNGevity Foundation and the biopharmaceutical company Celgene have joined forces to launch a new resource for caregivers of people diagnosed with lung cancer. The program, “Your Journey Together,” is a support tool focusing on the specific needs of this group and includes a series of videos,...
Martine Extermann, MD, PhD, senior member of Moffitt’s Senior Adult Oncology Program, has been honored with the Geriatric Oncology Lifetime Achievement Award, originally known as the “Preis geriatrische Onkologie für das Lebenswerk 2015,” at this year’s German, Austrian, and Swiss Congress of the...
The investigational drug telotristat etiprate was shown to have clinical benefit when added to somatostatin analog therapy for carcinoid syndrome not adequately controlled by long-acting somatostatin analog therapy, the current standard of care, in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors....
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with lung cancer. The trials are investigating DNA, RNA, and protein changes contributing to carcinogenesis; new prevention strategies; combination therapies; radiation,...
The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) presented the AACI Distinguished Scientist Award to Lewis Cantley, PhD, on October 26, during the 2015 AACI/Cancer Center Administrators Forum Annual Meeting, in Washington, DC. A cell biologist and biochemist who serves as The Margaret and...
A new collaboration between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System will provide access to the latest therapeutic cancer clinical trials and state-of-the-art care for men and women who have served in the armed forces. The...
Neutropenic complications remain the main dose-limiting toxicity of cancer chemotherapy treatment and are associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs.1 Although patients who have experienced a prior neutropenic event are at increased risk of subsequent events, several studies have...
ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on use of hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Thomas J. Smith, MD, FACP, FASCO, FAAHMP, and colleagues.1 This update to the ASCO 2006 guideline was based on a systematic review of...
Breast cancer and ovarian cancer specialist, Victoria L. Seewaldt, MD, has joined City of Hope as the Ruth Ziegler Chair in Population Sciences. Dr. Seewaldt, who is a specialist in developing risk models for aggressive cancers, will also serve as the Associate Director of the Comprehensive Cancer...
Nancy A. Speck, PhD, has been named Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the Associate Director of Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Co-Leader of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at...